by Ganesh Sahathevan
College Of Law CEO Neville Carter & SLS President Gregory
Vijayndran SC
In 2018 Gregory Vijandran SC ,speaking as President of the Singapore Law Society had this to say of of the College Of Law Australia:
“The Law Society could not have asked for a better partner to build expertise among Singaporean lawyers, given the College’s track record, pedigree and brand."
In 2014 the Australian legal industry newsletter Justinian reported:
Slicing-up the pie for the post-admission legal education market ... Lots of loot at stake as College of Law tries to push the NSW Law Society off a cliff ... Constitutional amendment ... Getting out from under the skirts
IT'S dreadful to have to report an unhappy stand-off between the Law Society of NSW and its love child the College of Law.
The COL wants to break its ties with the society and has pressed for a change to its constitution so as to remove the Law Soc's power of veto over major decisions.
Last month Joe Catanzariti, the chairman of the College of Law, wrote to the Law Society asking that the relationship between the two bodies be terminated. The COL claims that the Law Society's role on its board of governors is conflicted because it also engages in continuing legal education, one of the COL's core businesses.
Quoting the then CEO of the NSW Law Society Michael Tidball , Justinian reported:
"It is understood that the College of Law is currently losing market share in the PLT market, and it may well be that there are potential commercial openings for the law Society of NSW in pursuing the growth of new streams of business activity. Done in a strategic way, this development could strengthen our membership retention in the years ahead."
Meanwhile the SLS has refused to answer queries about its MOU with the College Of Law. The College has previously said that it was expending into Asia via its College Of Law Asia (also referred to as the College Of Law Asai Pacific. The latter two entities were said by the College to be headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, and led by a director, one Peter Tritt. SLS has refused to say which entity it had signed the MOU with.
The question is not academic, a trick question on an a company law or contract exam; as reported last year in the investigative news site New Malaysia Times, Tritt has left Kuala Lumpur ,without a replacement, leaving very many questions about the College's MOU with the Malaysian Bar Council:
TO BE READ WITH
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 – The Malaysian Bar Council launched its first education venture, a LLM in Malaysian Legal Practise (LLM), last year in collaboration with the College Of Law Australia.
The LLM does not seem to have the approval of Malaysia’s Legal Professional Qualifying Board (LPQB) but the website for the course, which is hosted in Australia, prominently displays the Bar Council crest.
The crest has not been used before to promote a course of study, and queries put to Bar Council President Fareed Gafoor about the use of the crest have been acknowledged but remain unanswered.
NMT has however sighted an email from Fareed dated Friday, May 24, 2019 with regards the LLM and the use of the crest where he states:
Dear Rajen,
We can’t remain silent on this.
Abdul Fareed Bin Abdul Gafoor
Sent from my iPad
It is understood that “Rajen” refers to Rajen Devaraj, Chief Executive Officer of the Bar Council Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur.
The Bar has remained silent for nearly 2 months since.
Key person suddenly retired during extensive query
The College of Law used to be represented in Malaysia by its Director, Peter Tritt. Tritt have been queried extensively about the LLM and about the College’s business in Malaysia but has refused to provide answers. Tritt has been based in Kuala Lumpur since 2017 but announced on Friday that he had “retired” from the College on 30 June 2019.
It is understood that Tritt has forwarded queries sent him to his head office in Sydney and hence it appears that Tritt is under orders from his Chief Executive, Neville Carter, to remain silent.
Questionable advertising claims?
In advertising on the College’s website Carter has claimed that he had established a Professional Legal Training course for Malaysian Law students seeking admission to practise in Malaysia. There seems to be no evidence of such a course, or of any national level training course for the existing Certificate of Legal Practise.
Carter has also claimed to have produced the “inaugural” Handbook in Legal Practise for Malaysia, in the late 80s. A search of the main law libraries in Malaysia directed by the Chief Registrar, Federal Court Malaysia, has not found any such handbook.
He has also claimed to have, during that time to have identified and addressed “gaps” in Malaysian legal practise, but not even those in practice during that period and since have ever heard of him. Nor are senior practitioners aware of “gaps” that needed that to be addressed by external consultants.
As CEO of the College Carter has ultimate responsibility for the College’s Malaysian operation headed by Tritt and variously named the “College Of Law Asia Pacific” and the “College Of Law Asia”. A search by NMT has not revealed any entities registered under those names in Malaysia or in Australia, not even a foreign entities registered to conduct business in Malaysia.
Meanwhile the College, in collaboration with the Bar Council continues to sell its LLM and other courses in Malaysia, deriving a fee income from Malaysian courses.
-NMT
SEE ALSO
MOU between Law Society and College of Law (Australia)Law Society and the College of Law
(Australia) (“COL”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) on 19 March 2018 for an initial period of 5 years to jointly develop legal education and training programmes for the legal profession in Singapore. COL is the largest provider of practice-focused legal education in Australia and New Zealand, and this is very much aligned to our approach towards CPD activities. This collaboration will allow our members to be prepared for a future where lawyers will need deep expertise not just in their practice areas, but in business and marketing as well. Besides developing joint training programmes, there will also be many opportunities for both organisations to work together on thought leadership initiatives in practice management, lawyers’ well-being/self-care, crossborder legal practice. This exciting collaboration with an institute of higher learning is a first for the Law Society, as we seek to strengthen our training capabilities to cater to the different learning needs of our members. For a start, a series of e-learning programmes from COL will be added to Law Society’s existing e-learning programmes. Members can look forward to an expanded list of e-learning programmes to assist them in fulfilling their CPD requirements for 2018. Do keep a lookout for our e-mailer or visit our CPD portal for more information: http://www.lawsoc.org.sg/en-gb/elearning.aspx
